He has such an infectious laugh. His life is a rich and colourful tapestry of circumstances which he had to embrace, and overcome.
He adopted the Muslim faith when he married his late wife with four kids of her own and later they added two kids of their own. His parents were originally from Mafikeng in the North West and Free State but they met in Cape Town. He was born in 1944 in Kensington Cape Town. During his formative years his family first lived in Kensington and later moved to Crawford, and then settled in Lansdowne. Why this is significant is to understand this happened during the Apartheid era where Blacks were not allowed to live in, or go to school in, certain areas. His family life was stable until the move due to the Group Areas Act. With an unscrupulous lawyer the family later lost their house. That’s when the family was uprooted and were scattered apart. But contentment eventually settled in his heart.
“Apartheid was only a word during my childhood that I didn’t understand. We all lived together as Blacks and Coloured people. Only later did the chaos become a reality when some of my own brothers were classified as ‘Black’ and went to school in Langa, and I myself could go to a so-called ‘Coloured’ school because I could speak Afrikaans. Even to the point of having had to change your surname to be able to fit in”. This is still a tender point but, he has made peace with it. He misses the bond there was between the different peoples and different cultures who lived together back then but is happy that things are slowly turning back towards the way it used to be.”
He worked in the panel beating and spray painting industry in the preparation division, after the advent of the Group Areas displacements, so that he could support himself financially. He admits that he was never ambitious because otherwise he would have probably studied to become a tradesman. He just found himself enjoying the job at hand, and that was good enough.
His parents were his first role models. Next followed the struggle stalwarts, irrespective of colour or creed. He found all of them inspirational but he highlighted Mr Abdullah Haroon in particular.
His strongest quality is attributed to his respect of people. The best years of his married life was when he and his wife found each other being given a second chance in their later years and where they were happy irrespective of the struggles and challenges they had to overcome.
He speak of choices and its consequences. Help should be asked, so that you can be helped. That together with prayers, will ultimately help you to overcome and get to your goals.
One outstanding factor he would like the world to remember him by is that he was a quiet, yet respectful person. Conflict situations will arise but you must always remember to apologise. Once you have done so, you can live in peace with others. It’s ok to leave the other person alone, and not to fuel the fire. Walk away if you can.
Young people especially young men listen to his advice:
“Make education a priority. Always respect women and older people. Therein lies your blessing. You are the future. Don’t have too many friends, choose them carefully. Be so careful of falling into trap of taking drugs. Drugs is a curse! Stay as far away as you can.
I’m so proud of my Family and happy for their place in my life. For instance my daughter who became a pillar to the family and also in particular to myself. My sisters in Lesotho and Mafikeng, will always put in a little something in my hand, and so would my nieces and cousins. I’m just mentioning them but there is no favouritism when I say family. Everyone in my family is important to me and they to each other should be that as well. Because no man is an island.
Thank you uncle Aabier, for your insights and wise words.